This story is included in the collection Second Chance & Other Stories, published October 2022 - read it below, or listen here:

https://liamhoran.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/leap-edited.mp3   Charlie pulled the car in on the left just before the empty pier. He held down the button to turn off his phone, which was feeding Spotify through the speaker system, and slipped it down into the pocket on the side of the driver’s door – for once, not choc-a-bloc with scribbled notes, loose batteries, old keys, match programmes and a dozen other random items. “Make sure you clean the car,” had been Sophie’s last words the evening before, “and get it washed as well.” He lifted his wallet off the passenger’s seat and put it into the glove compartment, and unnecessarily checked one more time that the little black ring box was there too. Then he hopped out and grabbed his sports bag from the boot. The morning was grey, and the water lapped onto the end of the pier. “Why do I do this?” he asked himself again, just as he had a few times on the ever-narrowing road out from town. Now, as he fumbled with his jocks under his dryrobe, and looked out at the choppy lake, he contemplated not bothering. But he was having a good run of it lately and though Sophie had wanted to get on the road earlier, he told her he’d like to grab a swim before they left, and so it would be 9.30am before he’d be at her house.